Letter to the editor

In responding to David Couture's letter "Giving perspective on United States Military casualties in Iraq". I would like to begin by saying that I, like Mr. Couture, am a World War 2 veteran. Where we differ is in how he evaluates the Iraqi conflict with past wars this country has engaged in. For openers, unlike the case in World War 2 where this country was attacked by Japan, we invaded a sovereign nation without provocation and deposed its leaders under the (later to be proven false) premise that weapons of mass destruction were being stock piled by that nation. Mr. Couture compares the American casualties in Iraq with other wars and concludes that we should be grateful that they have been so few. He goes on to say that more lives are lost in highway accidents. I don't believe Iraqi lives are included in this estimate. I readily concede that as wars go, far greater losses have occurred in past conflicts, but....and this is a big but, Iraq did not attack or declare war on the United States. No Iraqis as far as we know had anything to do with 9/11 and no amount of flag flapping and saber rattling is going to cover up the fact that the war on terror got seriously sidetracked to the wrong place. Osama Bin Laden is still in business and we've got to pin the tail on the right donkey at long last and quit issuing feel- good platitudes to a troubled nation who no longer buys them.

George Morin
Auburn, Ga.